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State Board member: Doubling ISTEP testing time bad for students

As a parent of school-aged children, a teacher, and a member of the State Board of Education, I was shocked, as were many other Hoosier parents, when the Indiana Department of Education announced over the past

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State Board member: Doubling ISTEP testing time bad for students

Sarah O’Brien
Published 2:47 p.m. ET Feb. 6, 2015

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Last year, students in grades 3 through 8 took the ISTEP test for approximately five hours. This year’s test, according to a member of the State Board of Education, will require between 11 and 12.5 hours.(Photo: Indianapolis Star)Buy Photo

As a parent of school-aged children, a teacher, and a member of the State Board of Education, I was shocked, as were many other Hoosier parents, when the Indiana Department of Education announced over the past two weeks a doubling of the amount of time our students will be taking ISTEP tests this spring.

Hoosier parents and education leaders need testing in order to determine how our children are learning and to acknowledge great teaching. However, the amount of testing the Department of Education is imposing this year is simply too much for Hoosier students and takes too much time away from other productive educational activities in the classroom.

During the Feb. 4 State Board of Education meeting, a pediatrician testified that making children take 11 to 12 hours of tests was nothing short of child abuse. Last year, students in grades 3 through 8 took the ISTEP test for approximately five hours. This year’s test will require between 11 and 12.5 hours. It is simply unconscionable to make our children sit through six to seven additional hours of tests. Research shows that testing for that length of time produces a negative impact on student performance. Additionally, schools are forced to drain resources from every corner of their buildings to accommodate testing schedules. This affects all of our students, not only those testing this year.

During the board meeting, my colleagues and I asked the Department of Education to explain to us and parents across the state why they doubled test times this year. Last fall, when the board asked the Department of Education to describe how much ISTEP would be expanded, the department responded that “a few questions” would be added. Clearly a doubling in testing time is the result of adding more than a few questions.

The board did request that Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz call the test provider, CTB/McGraw-Hill, to ask if they can shorten the test. As of this writing, the superintendent has not responded. Board members continue to ask the superintendent, and the Department of Education, to do anything in their power to release our students from the unnecessary stress of such a strenuous test that is in no way developmentally appropriate as written.

At this late hour, there is nothing State Board members can do to shorten the length of the test. We did, however, vote to expand the windows when students could take the test. We are hopeful that this will lower stress and improve performance by reducing the time students need to take tests each day. The Board has also asked the Department of Education to report earlier in the school-year the amount of time testing will take in future years, which the Department of Education agreed to do.

As a member of the State Board of Education, teacher and proud parent, I wish I had better news to share with other Hoosier parents and teachers regarding this year’s ISTEP test. It appears this year that students and their classrooms will be disrupted for twice the amount of time for testing than in previous years. While it won’t change testing this year, rest assured the State Board of Education will strongly encourage the Department of Education to return test time to near its previous levels next year. Our kids deserve better.

O’Brien is a first and second grade teacher at River Birch Elementary School in Avon. She has served as a member of the State Board of Education since 2009.